AR-News: HUMANElines Issue 303

Wed Jul 7 04:03:19 EDT 2004

Issue 238
From: HUMANElines 
Sent: Tuesday, July 06, 2004 11:30 PM
Subject: [hsus-action] HUMANElines Issue 303

          
      Issue 303 --- July 6, 2004
      A Project of The Humane Society of the United States and The Fund for Animals
      http://www.humanelines.org/
     

      MARYLAND RESIDENTS: SPEAK UP FOR BLACK BEARS:
      For the first time in nearly 50 years, Maryland's Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and Governor Robert Ehrlich have announced that they will open a bear hunting season this fall. The announcement comes after legislative attempts to stop the hunt failed by just one vote. 
      The bear hunt is a terrible idea for several reasons. First, because the current Maryland bear population is so small (somewhere between 266 and 437, according to the DNR’s own estimates), any kind of trophy hunt would be biologically reckless. (Just fifty years ago black bears were protected from hunting after they almost went extinct in Maryland.) Second, a random bear hunt will not diminish human-bear encounters -- a specific, aversive conditioning program for individual “problem” bears is needed. Hunters are likely to kill bears that are far away from human dwellings; these bears are not likely to have ever caused damage near human populations. Third, state law already permits the DNR to shoot and kill specific individual bears thought to be causing damage near human dwellings. There is simply no scientific evidence to support the DNR's claims that hunting is either necessary or even likely to reduce damage.   

      WHAT YOU CAN DO:
      Submit comments opposing Maryland's bear hunt by Monday, July 12, 2004 to 


      Robert Beyer
      Wildlife and Heritage Service
      Tawes State Office Building
      E-1, 580 Taylor Avenue
      Annapolis, MD 21401 
      Phone: 410-260-8540
      Fax: 410-260-8596
      Email: customerservice at dnr.state.md.us. 
      For more points to include in your comments, see: http://www.hsus.org/ace/15633 or www.marylandbears.com.


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      PROPOSAL TO EXPAND MONTANA'S BUFFALO KILLING: 
      In a recently released Environmental Assessment (EA), the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife, and Parks (FWP) is proposing to reinstate public sport hunting of buffalo in Montana, just outside of Yellowstone National Park.  The FWP’s proposed hunt would allow up to 25 hunters to take aim at any buffalo stepping outside of the Park’s western and northern boundaries.  

      The last buffalo hunt in Montana more than a decade ago was widely viewed as inhumane and was decried as unfair—-by hunters and non-hunters alike—-largely because Yellowstone’s buffalo are accustomed to people and are not likely to run when approached by a hunter.  One legislator even referred to hunting buffalo as akin to "shooting a couch" because it is so unchallenging.  This hunt (to be conducted under the authority of Montana’s Department of Livestock) would be held in addition to the annual slaughter of Yellowstone bison by state and federal agencies. But unlike that ongoing slaughter, which is billed as an effort to reduce the threat of brucellosis transmission from bison to domestic cattle,  the FWP admits this proposed hunt is a purely recreational "sport hunt."

      WHAT YOU CAN DO:
      The FWP is accepting public comments on the proposed hunt through July 9th.  Please tell the FWP that a buffalo hunt is not warranted, that the bison are a national treasure and that a hunt will serve only to hurt Montana’s image and damage its tourism industry. Send your letter to:


      Bison Hunt 
      Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks 
      1400 S. 19th Ave. 
      Bozeman, MT 59718 
      Email:  bisonhuntcomment at montana.edu 


      For more info on the current management of Yellowstone’s buffalo, see: http://www.hsus.org/ace/19953.  For a copy of the EA, go to:  http://www.fwp.state.mt.us/publicnotices/show.aspx?id=605


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      SPEAK OUT AGAINST CRUEL GOOSE BEHEADING: 
      On June 24, the Associated Press reported that the upscale, gated community of Lake Mohawk in Malvern, Ohio was planning to round up and decapitate resident Canada geese, based on a permit granted them by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (DNR). The plan was hatched because some neighborhood residents feel that the geese are a "nuisance." 

      On Wednesday (6/30), The HSUS received confirmation that the round up had begun. Because the geese were molting and unable to fly away, they had no chance at escape. Ten goslings were captured and relocated, and nine adult geese were captured and beheaded.  The goslings are likely to have a difficult time surviving now that their parents have been killed. As gruesome as this plan sounds, it is even more troubling because it promises to be ineffective. The empty niche left after the geese are killed will likely soon be filled in by replacement geese, because lakes and well-groomed lawns are attractive habitats for wild geese. Only by adopting an integrated program of humane techniques such as changing landscaping, scaring geese away, and addling or oiling eggs so fewer goslings hatch will any permanent solution be found.  Many communities across the nation have found humane management techniques far more effective. 

      WHAT YOU CAN DO:
      Ask Ohio Governor Bob Taft to put a stop to the Ohio DNR's cruel lethal Canada goose "control" programs. Ask him to stop the DNR from issuing permits, at least until all non-lethal alternatives have been used. 


      Governor Bob Taft
      30th Floor
      77 South High Street
      Columbus, Ohio 43215-6117
      Phone 614-466-3555 
      send an email through: http://governor.ohio.gov/contactinfopage.asp


      To receive directly, call 202-955-3668 or email humanelines at hsus.org For more information on legislation, how to find your legislators, or past HUMANElines, go to http://www.hsus.org/ or http://www.fund.org/ 
     

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